ABSTRACT
It takes more than a baby to make a mother, and mothers make more than babies. Bringing together a range of international studies, Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption examines how marketing and consumer culture constructs particular images of what mothers are, what they should care about and how they should behave; exploring how women's use of consumer goods and services shapes how they mother as well as how they are seen and judged by others. Combining personal accounts from many mothers with different theoretical perspectives, this book explores:
- How advertising, media and consumer culture contribute to myths and stereotypes concerning good and bad mothers
- How particular consumer choices are bound up with women’s identities as mothers
- The role of consumption for women entering different phases of their mothering lives: such as pregnancy, early motherhood, and the "empty nest"
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |53 pages
Motherhood as an ideological, mediated project
part |60 pages
Feeding motherhood
chapter |18 pages
‘It won't do her any harm' they said, ‘or they wouldn't put it on the market'
Infant weaning, markets and mothers' narratives of trust
part |68 pages
Motherhood, consumption and transitions
chapter |12 pages
Mothers and their empty nests
Employing consumption practices to negotiate a major life transition
part |52 pages
Consumption and contested motherhood identities
chapter |12 pages
On markets and motherhood
The case of American mothers of children adopted from China
chapter |15 pages
Spectacular pregnancy loss
The public private lives of the Santorums and Duggars at the intersection of politics, religion and tabloid culture
chapter |12 pages
Pregnancy, privacy and personhood in the consumer socialization of expectant mothers
The VOICE Group
1
Voicing International Consumer Experiences
